Chelsea away, which is always a joy.
Sunday dinnertime, and where better to spend it than Stamford Bridge? I can think of a few lot of places, but they don’t have the Villa playing there.
Again, there’s not much new to be said about Chelsea. It’s always been the sort of away trip to be endured rather than enjoyed. That used to be because it was a nasty, violent place with an unwelcoming open away terrace. Now it’s a nasty, expensive place with an unwelcoming away end although at least you can stay dry if it rains.
Back in those old days Chelsea at least made up for being such a horrible place to visit by usually handing out points to visiting teams. Then they got bought by some rich Russian bloke so you didn’t even get the points anymore, although we’ve done alright there in the past couple of seasons. They’ve got Carney Chukwuemeka, who plays less games for them every season and now he can only get into the team when they play in that pointless competition for third-raters who are desperate to be in Europe. They’ve also got seven keepers out on loan.
Chelsea tend to have a new manager and about a hundred new players every season. The one they’ve got now used to be at the Albion, and there is a story that when we signed Fabio Ferraresi he was the one we thought we were getting. A year later them from Smethwick sold him to Juventus for three times what they’d paid and he went on to have a decent career in Serie A and around Europe. Ferraresi went back to Italy and spent the rest of his career in the lower divisions.
We’ve got the usual few out and some who are getting back to full fitness. A win would help them all.